Has The Prime Minister Become More Powerful In Recent Years?

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Introduction

Thanuseelan Jeyaseelan Government Politics Homework Has The Prime Minister Become More Powerful In Recent Years? In the last twenty five years England has had three Prime Ministers. The first was Margaret Thatcher, who came into power in 1979, and resigned in 1990. Then came John Major in 1990, and lost the vote in 1997. Tony Blair became Prime Minster in this year and has successfully stayed in power for two full terms so far. These Prime Ministers all have very different leadership styles. Having said this, the radical policies of Margaret Thatcher, were still continued through Major and Blair. Margaret Thatcher made less use of her cabinet than her predecessors. Detailed policy work was done in cabinet comities or bilateral meetings with the head of a department. Cabinet meeting were begun with the announcement of the government policy, and some issues were also kept from her cabinet. She was accused of paying greater attention to her advisors than her cabinet. ...read more.

Middle

Major used cabinet meeting to bind both pro-European and Euro sceptic ministers to government policy on Europe. In general he did not have a lot of competition for his job within his party. Major had a different leadership style to Thatcher and Blair, he was the balancer. He had to bring together the two divisions in his party. He had to make policies through compromise, that is, he had to ensure both sides of the party were happy with his policy. This shows that John Major's power within his party, did not give the impression of being the one ruling authority, like that of Thatcher. Tony Blair is seen as a more dominant Prime Minister than Major. He even seems to be more powerful than Thatcher. Tony Blair's era is seen as being rather presidential. Blair makes the key decisions in government, as well as having the political and media spotlight firmly placed on his every move. ...read more.

Conclusion

Margaret Thatcher represented a powerful position within her cabinet, but she was facing pressure from the beginning. The Conservative party is seen to be full of males. Her being a female would have faced slight grudges due to her gender. The fact she never listen to her cabinet, or went to her cabinet for advice, meant that lost the confidence of her party. She exercised the power that was available to her well, but this was also the reasons that lead to her downfall. Tony Blair exercised his power, but not with radical left wing policies. Major in general did not have any power; he was left to pick up the pieces after the terrible reign of Thatcher. She destroyed the image of the party, and Major had to try his best to socialise the party into high public ratings, and stop the members within the party from going to war. Therefore he had no time to think about his position, and the power available to him. ...read more.

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